 Charles
S. Johnson (Born July 24, 1893, Bristol, Va., U.S. Died Oct.
27, 1956, Louisville, Ky.), U.S. sociologist, authority on race
relations, and
the
first black president (1946-56) of Fisk University, Nashville,
Tenn. (established in 1867 and long restricted to black
students). Earlier he had founded and edited (1923-28)
the
intellectual magazine
Opportunity
, a major voice of
the
Harlem Renaissance of
the
1920s.
After graduation from Virginia
Union University
in Richmond, Johnson studied under the
sociologist
Robert
Ezra
Park
at
the University
of Chicago and then worked for the
Chicago Commission on Race Relations (1919-21). His first
important writing, The Negro in Chicago
(1922), was a sociological study of
the
race riot in that city in July 1919. His research technique,
called "community self-survey of race relations,"
facilitated
the
gathering of sociological data and interpretations from both
blacks and whites. After directing research for
the
National Urban League, New York City, he served as chairman of
the
social sciences department at Fisk (1928-47). After World War II,
he helped to plan
the
reorganization of
the
Japanese educational system.
In
Growing Up in
the
Black Belt (1941), Johnson denied
the
common assertion that U.S.
race relations constitute a true caste system; he pointed out
that
the
status of
the
Negro in American society did not have universal acquiescence or
a religious basis. Among his other books are "The Negro in American Civilization" (1930),
"The Negro
College Graduate" (1936), and "Patterns of Negro Segregation"
(1943).
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